LeChuck
LeChuck is a pirate. He pines for the love of Elaine Marley and is the nemesis of Guybrush Threepwood. "First" origin When LeChuck was still alive, he was a fearsome bloodthirsty pirate. He met and fell in love with the governor of Mêlée Island, Elaine Marley who had invited him to her mansion. She did not like him though and told him to "drop dead". LeChuck took this quite literally and was killed by a storm when he was searching for the Secret of Monkey Island. But his black spirit and love for Elaine was enough for him to resurface as a vengeful ghost who haunted the seas. His victims were killed and turned into living skeletons and then forced to join LeChuck's crew. This made many pirates afraid of the ocean and, as LeChuck puts it, "too afraid to take a bath". "Second" origin Even this relatively straightforward origin becomes complicated as the story progresses. An elaborate series of explanations in the final two games attempts to retcon several plot inconsistencies via an overly convoluted revision of LeChuck's original back-story. It is revealed in the third game that the story told in the first game was merely a small portion of a much more detailed story that explains how LeChuck came to be. In the "new" version, a still-living LeChuck decided to win Elaine's affections by finding the legendary secret of Monkey Island. At the time, Elaine's own grandfather, known only as Captain Marley, was part of a group of four looking for a treasure called Big Whoop. LeChuck was stranded on Blood Island after a big storm came and destroyed his ship, killing everyone on the ship but him. At this time, Marley and his crew made port on Blood Island and LeChuck was able to get Rum Rogers, one of Marley's crew members, drunk enough to reveal that they had the map to Big Whoop. He got a quick look on the map and made a copy for himself to use. LeChuck planned to get to the treasure before Marley and his crew so that he could claim it for himself. He later became engaged to the local debutante Minnie Goodsoup but that was only so that he could get a rare diamond on her wedding ring. LeChuck stole Minnie's diamond from the wedding ring on the eve of their wedding and sold it to some cutthroat smugglers on Skull Island in exchange for a new ship. Minnie was left alone on the wedding altar and died of broken heart a week later only to return as a ghost in the Goodsoup family tomb, haunting it until someone would marry her. LeChuck managed to reach Dinky Island (or possibly Monkey Island; the games are particularly vague on this point) before Captain Marley and his crew and found big whoop. LeChuck found, however, that Big Whoop was actually the gateway to hell, which transformed him into a ghost when he passed through it. The transformation also gave him special powers like on that allows him to transform living people into undead. Captain Marley and his crew (who arrived on the Island a half hour later) witnessed LeChuck pass through the portals of Big Whoop and fled the island in terror. In order to ensure that no one else would discover Big Whoop and go through its torture, Marley tore his map into four pieces and gave three of them to his crew mates, keeping one for himself. In case someone actually obtained all four pieces, they made a chest containing an E-Ticket (to pass as the treasure of Big Whoop) and buried it at the entrance to the tunnels that connect Dinky Island to Monkey Island and ultimately Big Whoop. To go along with this they invented a story of a great shipwreck that left no survivors except themselves and swam ashore to an island where they found Big Whoop, hoping that people would believe all of this and never find out the true treasure of Big Whoop and its power. LeChuck thought that through his powers he could carry out all of his evil plans. He had gotten great strength, the ability to disguise himself as a human and a form of immortality, he could use Big Whoop to create a vast army of undead soldiers to do his bidding. He intended to use this power on Elaine to make her his undead bride. he also planned to make an evil theme park named after Big Whoop with a roller coaster that would go through its portal and turn all the passengers into skeletal soldiers to do LeChuck's biddings. To ensure that no one else would find Big Whoop, he killed the other three members of Marley's crew and the captain himself. He found out that Rapp Scallion the cook had a habit of leaving his gas burners on in his shack on Scabb Island, and sent a fully lit cake to him. The flames from the candles went to the burners and the cook exploded along with his shack, leaving only his ashes. The shack was apparently reconstructed in his memory later and his ashes were locked in a crypt in the cemetery on Scabb Island. His piece of the map to Big Whoop somehow survived and was locked in with him. Rum Rogers Senior was taking a bath in his cabin on Phatt Island while drinking rum and eating toast, when LeChuck broke in and pushed the toaster into the bathtub. His son, Rum Rogers Junior, obtained the map piece, and kept it near his father's corpse in the bathtub. Young Lindy the Cabin boy could not bear living in fear and so found LeChuck and begged for mercy. LeChuck let him live and gave him a fortune, which he used to build a successful advertising firm. LeChuck later sent him an account that ruined Lindy's business, forcing him to sell everything he owned (including the map piece), join a circus, and die when he was shot from a cannon without a helmet. LeChuck ambushed Captain Marley while he was racing in the America's Cup and tortured him to insanity. He then sent Marley's ship into a whirlpool that "not even the most accomplished captain could escape". It seemed that before this, Marley gave Elaine Marley the map piece, as she had it at her mansion on Booty Island. With all known people with information of Big Whoop dead, LeChuck was ready to start his reign of terror of the Caribbean. LeChuck got on a ship and killed the crew so that he could reanimate them as ghosts. whith them under his control, LeChuck got off Dinky Island (or Monkey Island) and his new reign of terror against the Caribbean started. He killed everyone that his ship came across and made some of them part of his crew. He soon became infamous for his cruelty and was feared by all, especially the Pirate population. This made even the most fearless pirates leave the seas and they started to drink their lives away. after some time, LeChuck was the only pirate left roaming the seas. He got very wealthy as he was one the few left that looted the islands, and anyone who would dare to sail against was quickly killed. With his fortune, LeChuck constructed a fortress to serve as a base of operations for keeping his loot, imprisoning and torturing people, and where he could store his corpse for resurrection in case his ghost form was destroyed. the corpse would later be used for his resurrection in the second game In the Secret of Monkey Island At the start of the game, LeChuck's ship is anchored in the gates of the Big Whoop. LeChuck plans to kidnapp Elaine when his first mate, Bob tells him that a new pirate wannabe has appeared on Mêlée Island. LeChuck plans to deal with Guybrush himself instead of Bob. He disguises himself as the new sheriff, Fester Shinetop and tries to scare Guybrush away from the island by saying that it's really dangerous but that didn't work. they met again when Guybrush tried to steal an idol from Elaine that he needed to pass the pirate exam and got into a fight with the sheriff and was saved by Elaine before he was killed. Later on, the sheriff takes Guybrush's sword, ties him to the heavy idol and throws him into the water to drown. Guybrush survives this thanks to his ability to breath under water for ten minutes. LeChuck thinks that Guybrush is dead and scares every pirate on the island away and kidnaps Elaine. LeChuck doesn't know that Guybrush survived and had gotten a ship and a crew though. Guybrush even manage to find Monkey Island and there he is able to obtain a special voodoo root that LeChuck took from the cannibals as it could create the only thing that could destroy his ghost, root beer. LeChuck leaves Monket Island and seizes control of Mêlée Island where he sets up his wedding with Elaine. Guybrush manage to leave Monkey Island and sail to Mêlée Island before th wedding. Guybrush also destroys most of LeChuck's crew on the way there. It is then revealed that Elaine actually escaped and that the bride was actually two monkeys in a bride's outfit. She had managed to create her own root beer after she escaped and planned to use it one LeChuck but Guybrush ruined her plan. LeChuck punches Guybrush around Melee Island until Guybrush uses a can of root beer that he found nearby Stan's used ships. He sprayed LeChuck with it and watched with Elaine how he exploded in thousands of pieces looking like fireworks. How Guybrush managed to obtain LeChuck's living beard after he exploded is unknown. In Monkey Island: LeChuck's Revenge Even though LeChuck exploded at the end of the first game, he managed to return when his former right-hand man, Largo Legrande, stole LeChuck's living beard and used it with LeChuck's rotten corpse to resurrect his old captain with some help from a Voodoo Priest. LeChuck became less interested in Elaine and more on exacting his revenge on Guybrush this time and quickly resumes his reign of terror and starts to raid the caribbean once again but this time, he has another reason for it. He kidnaps hundreds of people to build his new amusement park that will kill thuosands of people and turn them into ghost pirates for his new army. He succeeds with his plan to enslave people and forces them to construct the carnival while slashing and burning acres of Monkey and Dinky Island. LeChuck also killed some of his workers by staging "accidents" and actually just did it for fun. LeChuck sent Largo to find and capture Guybrush, who was looking for the four map pieces that would lead him to big whoop while, at the same time, ordered his voodoo priest to make a voodoo doll of Guybrush. LeChuck desperately tried to find Guybrush and the four map pieces, afraid that he might find big whoop and discover its secrets and answers and possibly LeChuck's origins. LeChuck even went as far as to put a bounty on Guybrush's head to make sure that he woudn't find all the map pieces. Largo tried to find Guybrush but fails, even though he somehow got to know that guybrush had aquired the map pieces. LeChuck finally manages to lure Guybrush to his fortress by kidnapping his friend Wally and let him find the key to Wally's cell, wich was actually just a trap to capture Guybrush. He hung Wally and Guybrush in chains by their arms over a pool of acid. LeChuck planned to have them fall down in the acid so that he could take their bones, reanimare them and build a chair out of them so that he could sit on it and heir them scream in agony. LeChuck constructs an elaborate mechanism to lower them into the acid, but this gives Guybrush enough time to develop a way to escape. LeChuck's plans fail, his fortress is blown up during Guybrush's escape to Dinky Island. LeChuck survives the explosion though and continues his plan to kill Guybrush. LeChuck manages to find Guybrush after some time and tries to use the voodoo doll to send him to hell but the voodoo doll doesn't work and Guybrush ends up just a few rooms away. Guybrush later makes a voodoo doll of LeChuck and goes as far as to pull its leg off wich also causes the real LeChuck's leg to be torn off. LeChuck wouldn't admit defeat and cast a hypnotic spell over Guybrush tricking him that they are acutally brothers (this is of course a parody of the famous scene from Star Wars V where Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father. they even mimic the dialogue). LeChuck traps Guybrush in the carnival of the damned and makes him believe that he's a child and with his family. LeChuck also puts a spell on himself so that he turns into Guybrush's brother, Chucky (it's very unlikely that Guybrush has a brother and that he was created when Guybrush was hypnotised). When Guybrush enters the carnival, he seems to be with his parents again. This is not what it appears, however, as his parents and everyone else in the park are skeletons in disguise working for LeChuck. LeChuck has finished his demonic carnival and many have already been claimed by Big Whoop and transformed into skeletons. Guybrush is eventually able to escape the spell and get out of the park alive. the games ending says something else though as it shows that LeChuck actually trapped Guybrush in the amusement park. The Curse of Monkey Island In the third game's opening, it is revealed that LeChuck had cast a hypnotic spell on Guybrush at the end of MI2 to make him believe that he is his brother and to trap him in the "Carnival of the Damned". His parents and everyone else in his demonic carnival were skeletons in disguise working for LeChuck. Guybrush is however eventually able to escape the spell and get out of the park alive. LeChuck didn't really seem to care about how Guybrush escaped from the spell but he captured him in his ship and almost kills him when Elaine almost shoots him. LeChuck throws Guybrush down in the hold. He prepare a invasion force which is destroyed by Guybrush while he constructs a voodoo cannonball. Before he is able to use it, Guybrush destroys his ship by cutting off the rope holding a canon and the recoil of the shot blasts him straight into the cargo deck. This shakes the entire ship and makes LeChuck drop the voodoo canonball that explodes when it touches the ground and destroys LeChuck, his crew and the whole ship. The arcane magic released in the destruction, however, transformed him into a demon pirate with a fiery beard, more powerful than ever. He builds up his crew and eventually also returns to his carnival in the big whoop. He has grown desperate and is willing to "burn every island in the Caribbean" to find his love, Elaine, and archenemy, Guybrush. His forces attack Plunder Island again and capture Wally, who had been residing on the island at the time. LeChuck puts him in a situation that is almost exactly the same as that in the second game in which Wally is being hung over a pit of acid. LeChuck is able to finally learn of the current location of Elaine, who was on Blood Island, through his employee Dinghy Dog. LeChuck finally manages to capture both Elaine and Guybrush whom he turns into a child once again instead of killing him. Guybrush makes an antidote for this and returns to his adult state. LeChuck is finally defeated when Guybrush shoots pepper on him which makes him sneeze fire on a fuse connected to a keg of rom that's on a big monkey made of ice. The ice falls on LeChuck and buries him, ending his third attempt to kill Guybrush. A scene in the game's closing credits depicts a father telling his son that the park's founder is frozen deep underground; this is a joking reference to the urban legend that Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen somewhere beneath one of his theme parks. Escape from Monkey Island LeChuck manages to escape from the ice with some help from Ozzie Mandrill, an evil australian developer who hates pirates. LeChuck and Ozzie works together to find the Ultimate Insult, a voodoo talisman of incredible power, capable of pulverizing a pirate’s spirit; the villains plan to obtain the Ultimate Insult and use its power to seize control of the Caribbean. More specifically, LeChuck intends to use the Ultimate Insult to defeat Threepwood and render Elaine his obedient bride. When LeChuck returns, he finds out that the gates of Big Whoop had been sealed. He had mentioned in the Curse of Monkey Island that the Big Whoop's power source wouldn't last forever if used continuously. As the carnival is no longer needed, LeChuck destroys it and travels back to Melee Island. There, he transforms into Charles L. Charles and declares Elaine dead so that she can't run in the election This is all part of his and Ozzie's plans to gentrify the pirate-infested Caribbean, and gain control over all the Caribbean. As Charles L. Charles, LeChuck runs for governor of the Tri-Island Area against Elaine. LeChuck's whole campaign is based on lies: He tells the pirates that they will have good times and free grog if they elect him. LeChuck hopes to win the election and gain total control over the island so that he may use it as a base of operations to construct the Insult Amplification Tower, a device Ozzie constructs to amplify the effects of the Ultimate Insult so every pirate in the Caribbean can simultaneously be exposed to its power. Meanwhile, Ozzie uses his skills in insult swordfighting to seize control of pirate islands and transform them in his image while attempting to discover the secrets of the Ultimate Insult from the Marley Heirlooms, which have key items that can help assemble the pieces of the Ultimate Insult. LeChuck and Ozzie develop a way to obtain the Heirlooms and get rid of Guybrush. LeChuck has Elaine's mansion set up for demolition to get Guybrush to go to Lucre Island to obtain a deed for the mansion from the Marley Heirlooms in the 2nd Lucre Island Bank. It is on this island where Ozzie will play his part in the plan. LeChuck and Ozzie hire Pegnose Pete, a clever and cunning criminal, to work for them. Ozzie has him disguise himself as Guybrush and rob the bank while Guybrush is checking through the heirlooms in the vault. Pegnose steals the heirlooms and locks Guybrush in the vault. Guybrush is arrested and Ozzie learns the secrets of the Ultimate Insult. Things don't go as planned. After Guybrush clears his name and again obtains the heirlooms along with the loot and the deed to the mansion, LeChuck and Ozzie go in a different direction. They let Guybrush find the pieces of the Ultimate Insult for them while LeChuck wins the election and gains control of the island. He enslaves all the people as Ozzie arrives on the Island with Pegnose to begin construction on the Amplification Tower. When Guybrush arrives, they steal the Ultimate Insult from him and strand him on Monkey Island. LeChuck sends Pegnose to find Elaine, who had disappeared after LeChuck was elected governor. He forces the enslaved citizens of the island to construct a statue in his honor, which he plans to animate and use with the ultimate insult to spread his evil over the Caribbean. While Guybrush is on Monkey Island, it is revealed that LeChuck had his priest construct a church in his name so he can use it to marry Elaine. He even founded his own religion (despite the fact that he despises it and only stands for hell), which seems very similar to Satanism. The religion is devoted to worshipping LeChuck and all his evil. People who go to the church will usually be tortured and murdered. LeChuck and Ozzie eventually find Elaine and are able to obtain the last piece of the Ultimate Insult. However, Guybrush and his partners are able to sabotage the amplification tower and Ozzie's attempt to expose every pirate to the Ultimate Insult fails. LeChuck becomes infuriated that their plans have failed and blames Ozzie, deciding to animate his statue to destroy him and all of the Caribbean. Inevitably, Ozzie double-crosses LeChuck and enslaves him using the power of the Insult. Animating a huge statue of "Charles", Mandrill begins his assault on piracy until Guybrush defeats him using a giant monkey robot. The power of the Insult falters momentarily, releasing LeChuck; the understandably angry pirate crushes the traitor with the statue. The Ultimate Insult, which Ozzie had been holding, explodes and LeChuck is hurled to parts unknown. Tales of Monkey Island It take's several year's for LeChuck to make another, fifth attempt at a kidnap. This time, in Guybrush's rescue attempt, he manage's to turn LeChuck into a human and release a voodoo pox over the Gulf of Melange. Elaine and a seemingly harmless LeChuck begin to return monkeys that LeChuck used as guinea pig's to their home's. An envious Guybrush goes off in search for an artifact known as "La Esponja Grande" which can revert the infestation of the pox. After a time, LeChuck begins to befriend Elaine and Guybrush, who flies to his defense as he is put onto trial for his various crimes on Flotsam Island, and accuses the Voodoo Lady - Guybrush's enigmatic advisor throughout the series - of contriving all of his and Guybrush's confrontations over the years. However, this is nothing but an act, as he is locating the voodoo-powered monkeys in strategic places around the Gulf of Melange; when Guybrush cures the pox, LeChuck turns on Guybrush and kill's him. In his ecstasy, he finishes off the bounty hunter Morgan Le Flay as well, and uses La Esponja Grande to transfer the voodoo pox's potency to himself. Aided by Guybrush's passing and the monkeys, LeChuck opens a gateway to the crossroads of the afterlife, drawing on the unlimited source of power to rise as a pirate god. Guybrush, who manages to reunite his spirit and body, lures and traps LeChuck in a rift between the real world and the crossroads, where he is stabbed simultaneously by Elaine and the spirit of Morgan, destroying both his physical and spiritual forms. However, at the conclusion of the game, his voodoo essence is taken by Morgan and given to the Voodoo Lady in exchange for Morgan's resurrection. External links *LeChuck on Wikipedia *LeChuck at the Internet Movie Database *LeChuck at Monkey Island wiki Jr. Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Pirate Category:Males Category:Ghost Category:Captain Category:SoMI Characters Category:MI2 Characters Category:CoMI Characters Category:EfMI Characters Category:ToMI Characters